1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a mid-mount mower having a mower unit mounted between a front wheel unit and a pair of right and left rear wheels arranged rearwardly of a vehicle body to be independently shiftable.
2. Description of the Related Art
A riding mid-mount mower, known from Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication 2000-351330, includes a body frame having a pair of right and left front longitudinal frames and a pair of right and left rear longitudinal frames. The front longitudinal frames support front wheels and suspend a mower unit through links. Each rear longitudinal frame is connected to a rear wheel drive section. The right and left front longitudinal frames are connected to each other through forward and rearward cross frames. The front longitudinal frames and the rear longitudinal frames are connected through the rearward cross frame.
A riding mower keeps a mower unit in a raised position during a non-operational run. When the mower runs over a rough terrain or rides over a curb, it is desirable to raise the mower unit to a higher position to avoid contact with the ground. In this type of mower, a gear case is protrusively mounted on a deck of the mower unit to convert torque transmitted in a longitudinal direction from a PTO shaft disposed in a rear part of the vehicle body, into rotation of a vertical shaft for transmission to rotary blades arranged in the mower deck. A limit to the raising of the mower unit is determined by interference between the vehicle body and the gear case or a shaft transmission system connected to the gear case.
In a conventional riding mower, a footboard is disposed on front longitudinal frames of the vehicle body with a mower unit suspended therefrom. Where the body frame is positioned higher for elevating the limit to the raising of the mower unit, the center of gravity of the vehicle body is raised and, as a result, the vehicle body is destabilized. Conversely, where the vehicle body is positioned lower in favor of stability of the vehicle body, the height of the raised mower unit relative to the ground is also lowered. Thus the vehicle body stability and the sufficient mower unit height have been incompatible.